The Hindu : Front Page : Hyundai Heavy Industries to set up plant in Chakan

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Wednesday, Jun 20, 2007
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Hyundai Heavy Industries to set up plant in Chakan

Staff Correspondent

Maharashtra has attracted 55 new projects in the last 18 months

To invest Rs. 260 crore initially
The new plant will make excavators

JOINT EFFORT: V. K. Jairath (left), Principal Secretary (Industries), Government of Maharashtra, and K. H. Park, COO, Hyundai Heavy Industries, exchanging the MoU document in Mumbai on Tuesday. Dong Yern Kim (second from right), Consul General of the Republic of Korea looks on.

MUMBAI: Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has announced its plans to set up a construction equipment plant in Chakan, near Pune. The unit will be set up by a 100 per cent subsidiary of HHI that will initially produce excavators and will be called Hyundai Construction Equipment India Pvt. Ltd.

Addressing the media here on Tuesday, J. S. Kim, who will be the managing director of the new company, said, “We will set up the unit in one year’s time and will commence production immediately thereafter. Initially, the plant will make hydraulic excavators but we will add production lines for other construction equipment later. The new plant will serve the core activity of the global business of Hyundai Construction Equipment Division, which will help to accomplish HHI’s vision of being a global leader.”

HHI plans to invest around Rs. 260 crore initially in the Indian subsidiary and this will increase gradually with an increase in its presence here.

The plant will employ around 200 people and the initial production capacity will be 3,500 units annually. The facility will include a fabrication shop, assembly lines and a paint shop. Initially the fully built products will be imported as sales are expected to commence soon, but the localisation process will escalate once production commences and is expected to reach 80 per cent in five years time.

The annual market size of the Indian hydraulic excavator industry has been estimated at around 7,000 units in 2006-07 by the company and is estimated to grow to 30,000 units by 2015.

HHI is now the world’s largest shipbuilder, taking up around 15 per cent of the global new shipbuilding market. The company’s success in shipbuilding has allowed it to expand into other heavy industry areas and it is today one of the leading engine builders with 35 per cent of the global share in diesel engines.

Maharashtra has attracted 55 new projects in the last 18 months, according to the Secretary, Industries, V. K. Jairath. “This investment totals around Rs. 48,000 crore or $11.5 billion. We are also proceeding well on the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) front with around 93 having been approved to date.”

Ashok Chavan, Industries Minister, Government of Maharashtra, said, “We currently have 46 Korean companies who have set up facilities in the state and are keen for this to go up to 100 at the earliest.”

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